Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa (from Nahuatl: Tekohtsinkalpan 'In the house of the great lord'), officially Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District and abbreviated as Tegucigalpa, M. D. C., is the capital and headquarters of government of the Republic of Honduras, together with its twin city Comayagüela, according to articles 8 and 295 of the current Constitution of Honduras. It is the third most populous city in Central America with a metropolitan area of more than 2.9 million inhabitants.

Although since 1536 the small town on the banks of the Choluteca river basin (today the Historic Center) was known by the peculiar name of Taguzgalpa, it was with the arrival of the Spaniards to the region in search of minerals that is recognized on September 29, 1578 as the day that marks its foundation under the name of Real de Minas de San Miguel de Tegucigalpa. Three centuries later, on October 30, 1880, it became the capital of the country, during the presidency of Marco Aurelio Soto.

During the short existence of the Political Constitution of the Federal Republic of Central America, between 1824 and 1839, Tegucigalpa was declared a federal district and capital of the then united in a single nation: the states of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras After this failed attempt to preserve a Central American republic, Honduras returned to being an individual and independent country and on January 30, 1937, Article 179 of the Honduran Constitution of 1936 was amended under Decree No. 53 and Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela are established as the Central District. On December 9 of the same year, it was ratified under Decree No. 2.

The Central District is located in the south central mountainous region of Honduras in the department of Francisco Morazán, of which it is also the departmental capital. The metropolitan area of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela lies in a valley, surrounded by mountains and both, being twin cities, are geologically separated by the Choluteca River basin that runs through them. The Central District is the largest and most populous municipality in Francisco Morazán and the fourteenth largest in Honduras. Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, together, is the largest and most populous city in Honduras.

The capital is the political and administrative center of the country where 23 embassies and 16 consulates are located, diplomatically and consularly representing 39 countries around the world. It is the headquarters of most public agencies and state companies, among they, the ENEE and Hondutel, the national energy and telecommunications companies, respectively. It is also home to the national soccer team and the main campus and rectory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), the highest house of studies from the country. The international airport, Toncontín, has gained worldwide fame and infamy for its extremely short runway for an international-class airport, which forces aviators to undertake somewhat irregular maneuvers during takeoff and landing to avoid the surrounding mountains.

The Municipal Mayor's Office of the Central District (AMDC) is the government authority of the city and municipality, headed by a mayor and 10 councilors who form the Municipal Corporation, the executive-legislative body of the municipality. Being the departmental head, it is headquarters of the departmental political governor of Francisco Morazán. For 2013, the Mayor's Office approved a budget of more than three billion lempiras (US$153.5 million), and accumulated a debt of over one billion lempiras (US$50 million), partly to finance infrastructure projects that is undertaking the present municipal administration.

The infrastructure of the capital has not kept up with its population explosion. The lack of adequate planning, dense and disorderly urbanization, added to socioeconomic phenomena such as poverty and crime, are scourges of daily life. The main roads are the scene of traffic jams since the present road network cannot cope with the more than 400,000 vehicles that circulate on them daily. Both the national and municipal governments have developed projects to increase infrastructure and alleviate poverty in the city.

Etymology

Tegucigalpa represented in a lithography of the 19th century of "Latin American Capitals".

Tegucigalpa View from Picacho.

Most sources suggest that the origin and meaning of the word Tegucigalpa derives from the Nahuatl language. Its exact meaning is open to different interpretations, but the most widespread version among popular belief is which derives from Taguzgalpa, from the Nahuatl Tlakoskalpan, which means silver hills. Among historians such as the Honduran Jesús Aguilar Paz, this interpretation is uncertain since the aboriginal inhabitants were unaware of the presence of mineral deposits in the region. It has been lost in history who or when the cerros de plata was determined, one theory is that it was the Spaniards, and not the natives, who named the region that way after the discovery of its riches minerals.

The Mexican polygraph Antonio Peñafiel, in his book "Geographical Nomenclature of Mexico" (1897), defines the word Tegucigalpa as a corruption of Tecutli-calli-pan which means [lord] in the royal palaces. Another A belief among Mexican historians such as José Ignacio Dávila Garibi and Alfredo Barrera Vásquez, contemplates that Tegucigalpa is from a Nahua word that translates as place of residence of the nobles, possibly from the word Tekohtsinkalpan which means in the house of the great lord or hill of the wise men.

Honduran philologist Alberto de Jesús Membreño, in his book "Indigenous Geographic Names of the Republic of Honduras" (1901) (republished in 1994 as “Indigenous place names of Central America”), completely discards the traditional cerros de plata and argues that Tegucigalpa derives from the Nahua word Teguycegalpa which means in the houses of pointed stones. Membreño defends his interpretation, noting that Taguzgalpa was the old name for the eastern part of Honduras and whose word means in the houses of the yellow earth .

The Austrian Americanist linguist, Rodolfo R. Schuller, proposes that the word Tegucigalpa means place where the house of the dawn is, while the Guatemalan researcher Flavio Rodas Noriega promoted a discussion about the etymological origin of Tegucigalpa and proposed that the term derives from Totogalpa, which is a reference to Tototl, a word Nahua meaning bird and/or toncontín which is another Nahua term whose meaning is dance of the Mexican Indians. On the other hand, the Honduran writer Rafael Heliodoro Valle, wrote that the name is Teguiazkalpa, whose etymology means the region of the hills of the venerable elders.

The Honduran author and historian Leticia de Oyuela, in her book “Historia Mínima de Tegucigalpa” (1989), contemplates the idea that the word Tegucigalpa derives from another language in which it means painted stones. Honduran anthropologist Gloria Lara Pinto, in her collaboration titled "Dichotomy of a City: The Indigenous Roots of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela" (2011) for the Paradigma Magazine of the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University, proposes that it is a derivation of Teguzigalpa or Tecuzincalpan and means in the land of the little lord. The Honduran historian Mario Felipe Martínez Castillo, in his pocket book "Readings from the capital of Honduras" (2012), emphasizes that Tegucigalpa cannot mean cerros de plata for the reasons already investigated by previous researchers and therefore suggests that it comes from the Lenca language and means place where the lords meet.

History

Foundation, colony and independence

San Francisco Square built in 1595

Church of Los Dolores dates back to the centuryXVIII

In its beginnings it was populated by a group of Spaniards who were looking for veins of silver in the place around 1560, later with the growth of the mining town it was known by the name of Real Villa de San Miguel de Tegucigalpa de Heredia on September 29, 1578 over an old existing indigenous town. At that time, the Tegucigalpa area was a center of mining activity, especially silver and gold.

The first mayor of Tegucigalpa, Juan de la Cueva, never imagined that years later that charming and picturesque city would become the most important area in Honduras, operating the main offices of the State and the private sector. It was founded in 1578, as a mining center, and de la Cueva was appointed mayor in 1579. The town was called "Real Minas de Tegucigalpa", obtaining the title of Villa de San Miguel de Heredia. Throughout the colonial period, the town had a mining character, extracting minerals from El Picacho hill and in the mountainous area of San Juancito. When the country became independent, the capital of the Republic of Honduras passed from Tegucigalpa to Comayagua and vice versa on several occasions, until in 1880 it was definitively established in Tegucigalpa.

In 1817, at the initiative of the mayor Narciso Mallol, the construction of a bridge over the Choluteca river began, made of masonry with seven arches. The work, completed four years later, linked Tegucigalpa with the neighboring city of Comayagüela, on the opposite bank of the river. Today it is popularly known as the Mallol Bridge.

Independence period

The Cathedral of San Miguel Arcángel was built at the end of the 17th century, being one of the oldest buildings still better preserved in the city.

In 1821 it was elevated to the rank of city. In 1824, the first congress of the Republic of Honduras decreed that Tegucigalpa and Comayagua, the two main cities of the country, alternate as the State capital, until October 30, 1880, when the seat of Government was definitively transferred to the city of Tegucigalpa as the capital of the State, it was decreed that civil authorities will reside in it, except the Supreme Court of Justice that will reside in Comayagua, immediately transferring the offices dependent on the Supreme Government.

Old presidential palace of Honduras in the center of the city

In 1847 the first university in the country was founded, with the name The Society of Entrepreneurial Genius and Good Taste, its first rector being the priest José Trinidad Reyes.

In 1875, during the presidency of Captain General José María Medina, the construction of a new Tegucigalpa General Cemetery was ordered, located in Comayagüela and finished in 1877, inaugurated during the presidency of Marco Aurelio Soto, in March 1995 the National Congress decreed to the General Cemetery as "National Cultural Heritage" ceasing to sell new lots and ordering their protection and care.

Since 1898 it was decided that Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, the two neighboring cities, on both banks of the Choluteca, would form the capital, but maintaining separate names, with two municipal governments. They had, at that time, about 40,000 inhabitants and the Central District, including neighboring towns, gathered more than 50,000 souls.

Tegucigalpa has been the cradle of illustrious Honduran patriots and statesmen, such as Dionisio de Herrera, Francisco Morazán, José Trinidad Cabañas, José Trinidad Reyes, General José Santos Guardiola, Doctor Marco Aurelio Soto, among others.

Contemporary period

Picture of the 20th century with view to the central park of Tegucigalpa.

Photograph of a street in Tegucigalpa in the 1980s

Tegucigalpa has grown in the last 50 years, but it has become a disorganized city due to a lack of planning. Migration from the countryside to the city has come to increase the population of the capital, especially in the surrounding land located on the slopes of numerous hills, many of them devoid of urbanization.

The city of Tegucigalpa is constantly growing. At the moment, the residential development poles point to the south of the city, from the Toncontín airport to the area of the Los Laureles dam and as bedroom communities, we have in the northeast, the municipalities of Santa Lucía and Valle de Ángeles.

On October 30, 1998, the city suffered significant damage after Hurricane Mitch, which destroyed a part of Comayagüela and the places bordered by the Grande or Choluteca river. The hurricane remained over Honduran territory for five days, which meant that the earth could not absorb as much rain and, added to deforestation, caused serious flooding throughout the country, mainly in Tegucigalpa.

The flooding of the tributaries of the Grande or Choluteca river caused it to exceed the height of the Juan Ramón Molina bridge, which was swept away by the current and quickly replaced by a Bailey bridge.

The rains also caused landslides in the area of Cerro El Berrinche. These landslides dragged most of the Soto neighborhood, whose debris fell on the river basin, causing a dam to be formed at the height of said colony. This dam stagnated the waters of the Grande or Choluteca river and caused flooding in the lower parts. of Comayagüela destroying the old establishments located in the vicinity of Calle Real. In other sectors, the current collapsed hills, hills and mountain slopes, taking with it entire neighborhoods, buildings, parks, cars, etc. The most affected areas were those located near rivers.

Panoramic Tegucigalpa.

Demographics

According to the results of the 2001 Population and Housing Census of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the population of the Central District, which includes the cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, was 906,129 inhabitants.^{[citation required]} In 2010 the population of the Central District had 1,126,534 inhabitants according to INE projections.

Geography

Satellite view of the urban area of Tegucigalpa

Map of Tegucigalpa and its districts

Location

Tegucigalpa, together with Comayagüela, make up the capital of Honduras. Both cities are located within the municipality of the Central District, the constitutional seat of the national government and of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa.

Tegucigalpa sits on a range of mountains at elevations of 3,068 feet (935 meters) at its lowest points and 4,800 feet (1,463 meters) at its highest in suburban areas. As in most of the interior highlands of Honduras, most of Tegucigalpa's present area was occupied by open forest. The area surrounding the town continues to support open woodland, pine woodland mixed with some oak, scrub and grassy glades, as well as needle-leaved evergreen and broad-leaved deciduous woodland.

The Choluteca River or the Grande River, which crosses the city from north to south, physically separates Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela. Tegucigalpa is located on the right bank of the Choluteca and Comayagüela is on the western sector of the river.

The city is made up of gently rolling hills, and the ring of mountains that surround the city tends to trap pollution. There is a reservoir known as the Los Laureles reservoir located to the west of the city that provides 30 percent of the city's water supply. To the south of the city, about 7.3 kilometers from the airport, is a water treatment plant that is part of the Concepción reservoir, located about 6 kilometers southwest of the water plant.

Neighboring municipalities

Tegucigalpa borders to the north with the municipalities of Cedros and Talanga, to the south with the municipalities of Maraita, San Buenaventura, Santa Ana and Lepaterique, to the east with the municipalities of Santa Lucía, San Antonio de Oriente, Valle de Ángeles and San Juan de Flores and to the west with the municipalities of Ojojona, Lepaterique, and San Antonio de Flores.

In the vicinity of Tegucigalpa there are many colonial towns of tourist interest, including Santa Lucía, Ojojona, San Juancito, Valle de Ángeles, Cantarranas, Yuscarán and Sabanagrande.

Ecology

La Tigra National Park, Honduras' first national park, links a wide variety of local flora and fauna.

La Tigra National Park

La Tigra National Park has a total area of 243.40 km² that includes the core zone and its buffer zone, the park has limits with five municipalities that are: Central District, San Juan de Flores, Santa Lucía, Valle of Angeles and Talanga. Of these, the one with the greatest coverage is the Central District, it has four ecosystems that are:

1. Agricultural system
2. Tropical forest always seasonal green aciculifoliado montane lower
3. Always seasonal green tropical forest mixed
4. Tropical forest always seasonal green latifoliado montano superior.

The subtropical dry forest is located in the northern zone of the park and is the one with the smallest amount of area. La Tigra has a great variety of flora and fauna, among the vegetation we can mention species of trees such as the Ocote pine, oak, oak, sweet gum and avocado. There is also diversity of ferns, six of them in danger of extinction which are protected by AMITIGRA.

Among the fauna there are species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds that are the most common groups and that we can observe inside the park, it is known that animals such as margays, agoutis, white-tailed deer, night monkeys, pumas live and Yaguaroundis as well as birds such as goldfinches, mountain guans, quetzals, hawks and toucans.

Picacho Metropolitan Zoo

The Picacho Metropolitan Zoo is located in El Picacho, with an extraordinary view of the city within a forest of oaks and pines. The zoo offers an option to meet some of the native animals of Honduras. A jaguar stands out, the largest feline in the Americas and native to Honduras, as well as a very complete collection of white-tailed deer and spider monkeys. With a total of 310 animals, with 20 different species of mammals, 23 birds and 7 reptiles. The total area of the zoo is about 22 blocks.

Parks

El Picacho National Park, popular viewpoint with panoramic views of the city.

View of the city centre from La Leone Park.

Tegucigalpa has a variety of parks of different scales and layouts, from colonial and more formal parks like Parque Herrera in its historic center, to larger, more forested parks like El Picacho National Park. Given its mountainous topography, Tegucigalpa has several emblematic public parks that are popular for their panoramic views of the city.

Some of the most emblematic parks in the city are:

• The park of La Leone, where you can see a good panoramic view of the city. Located in the center of the city is a good place to appreciate the most historic districts of the city.

• The National Park of El Picacho or the United Nations Park, has an impressive view from its viewpoints, is the ideal place to take great pictures of the city. Here is also located a small zoo of native species of Honduras and the monument El Cristo del Picacho. This park was opened to the public on August 2, 1946.

• The Cerro Juana Lainez Park has been an icon of civic and military history, it is currently an unmistakable symbol of Tegucigalpa, with its monument to La Paz. It is one of the main viewpoints from which you can see the four cardinal points of the city, also an ecological lung worth conserving, a forest firehouse has recently been established here. Although it has not been exploited for tourist use as it should be, since there are no conditions of services and security, it is still very visited; it is often used as a pre-practice area for the patrios parades... and for other "four student" practices. Various ceremonies are held, including the cannon detonations and the flag for the festivities of September and October.

• The Central Park, located opposite the Cathedral of San Miguel Arcángel, is one of the city's most popular parks. It develops several activities of much social and commercial interest due to its central location. In the centre of the park, the street is Peatonal, one of the most important shopping axes of the center that connects many of the most important cultural centers of the city such as the Manuel Bonilla National Theatre and the Museum of Honduran Man.

• Parque España or Parque Alfonso XIII, is a park and viewpoint that offers spacious spaces for rest and recreation as well as unmatched views towards the area of Bulevar Morazán and El Hatillo. In the center of the square in octagonal form is a statue of his majesty King Alfonso XIII of Spain.

• The Redondel de los Artesanos Park, along with the Cultural Center of Spain in the Colonia Palmira, has an open-air municipal auditorium, in it there are concerts, plays and fairs, and is the starting point for the Recreovías por la Paz on the third Sunday of each month. It was opened on October 1, 1973 with the traditional Artisans Fair that gives it its name. It also has a statue dedicated to the painter José Antonio Velásquez.

Economy

Torres Metrópolis Building as an example of economy in the area

The Central District has an economy equivalent to 19.3 percent of the country's GDP. In 2009, the city's income and expenditure budget was L.2,856,439,263 (US$151,214,182) [111] while in 2010 it was L.2,366,993,208 (US$125,204,606). 57.9 percent or L.43.860 million (US$2.318 million) of the country's national budget is spent in the Central District.

Tegucigalpa is the city with the highest Human Development Index in Honduras, which is 0.859, much higher than that of San Pedro Sula (0.720), although it remains lower than the rest of the Central American capitals, surpassing only Managua, Nicaragua.

Climate

Panoramic Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa presents a moderate form of a tropical savannah climate (Köppen climate classification: Aw); which means less humid than the lower valleys and coastal regions. It has two seasons, the dry and cold season that begins in November and ends in March, and the rainy and warm season that begins in April and ends in October.

The average number of hours of sunshine per month during the year is 211.2 and the average number of rainy days per month is 8.9. The average hours of sunshine during the dry season is 228 per month, while 182.5 millimeters (7.19 in) is the average monthly precipitation during the wet season. The wettest months of the rainy season are May-June and September-October, with an average of 16.2 rainy days during those periods. In Tegucigalpa, the wet season is humid and overcast, the dry season is mostly clear, and it is hot year-round. During the course of the year, the temperature generally ranges from 15°C to 30°C and rarely drops below 12°C or rises above 31°C.

Average Tegucigalpa climate parameters (Tegucigalpa airport)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	33.0	34.5	35.5	36.6	36.9	34.5	35.9	36.9	34.2	34.8	32.8	31.4	36.9
Average temperature (°C)	25.7	27.4	29.5	30.2	30.2	28.6	27.8	28.5	28.5	27.3	26.0	25.4	27.9
Average temperature (°C)	19.5	20.4	22.1	23.4	23.6	22.6	22.1	22.4	22.2	21.5	20.4	19.7	21.7
Temp. medium (°C)	14.3	14.5	15.5	17.1	18.2	18.2	18.0	18.0	17.9	17.6	16.3	15.0	16.7
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	4.5	7.2	4.7	8.9	11.1	12.4	12.6	12.2	11.0	10.0	7.7	6.8	4.5
Total precipitation (mm)	5.3	4.7	9.9	42.9	143.5	158.7	82.3	88.5	177.2	108.9	39.9	9.9	871.7
Rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm)	1	1	1	2	9	12	9	9	13	10	4	2	73
Hours of sun	220.1	231.7	269.7	246.0	217.0	171.0	192.2	204.6	183.0	201.5	198.0	210.8	2545.6
Relative humidity (%)	71	66	62	60	67	75	74	73	76	78	77	75	71.2
Source No. 1: World Meteorological Organization
Source No. 2: Hong Kong Observatory.

Pollution

Pollution along with violence is one of the main problems affecting the city for some decades now. During some months of the year the city is covered by an extensive layer of smog, which can be produced due to the burning of toxic waste or forests near the city, as well as the smoke expelled by the large number of vehicles that circulate through the metropolis. Although it can also be caused by the combustion of coal, wood or biomass.

In May 2014, a study revealed that Tegucigalpa is the city with the most polluted air in Central America, and one of the most polluted capitals in Latin America (along with Mexico City, Lima, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Santiago de Chile and Guatemala City among others). Urban pollution in Tegucigalpa also causes economic decline, since the country annually suffers losses of up to one billion lempiras.

Politics and government

Civic centre in front of the presidential palace.

As the capital of Honduras, as the departmental head, and as a municipality, the Central District is the seat of three governments: the national government, the departmental government, and the municipal government. Before 1991, the central government exercised most jurisdiction over the execution of municipal management throughout the country, which caused uneven administrative representation and an inadequate distribution of resources and governance. As a result, in the late 1990s, under Decree No. 134-90, the National Congress of Honduras approved the Municipalities Law, giving a clearer definition to municipal and departmental institutions, their representatives and their functions in order to give autonomy to local governments and decentralize them from the national government.

Although autonomous, the Central District is influenced by the national government since the territory is the seat of government of the republic. Important changes in the political structure of the municipality and the financing of large projects must be presented to the Presidential Office and approved by the National Congress before being executed by the local government.

Central District

Square in Tegucigalpa

Church of the Immaculate Conception in Comayagüela.

The Municipality of the Central District is constitutionally the capital of Honduras while Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela are two entities within the municipality, which in their time were their own cities and municipalities until they were incorporated into a single municipality and a single city, due to necessity to be able to establish government offices on both sides of the Choluteca river basin.

The current Constitution of Honduras, in its Title I, Chapter I, Article 8 declares:

The cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, together, constitute the capital of the Republic.

In addition, in Title V, Chapter XI, Article 295 it states:

The Central District is formed in a single municipality by the ancients of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela.

Popularly, Tegucigalpa is identified as the capital, since it was Tegucigalpa who held that title before sharing it with Comayagüela. Although legally and politically speaking they are a single city, traditionally, they are still identified as two sister or twin cities, given the history behind their beginnings.

Today, it is correct to say that Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras, it is also correct to say that Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, together, are the capital of Honduras; and finally, from its formation on January 30, 1937 under Decree no..

It should be noted that in Honduras, municipalities are defined as administrative divisions of the departments and not necessarily as a single city, so a municipality can contain more than one city or town, including its municipal seat than in the case of Honduras it tends to be the homonymous and most populated city in the municipality; although for administrative and legal purposes, the municipal mayor's office is the authority within the head city and the rest of the municipality.

An example, the Municipality of the Central District is the most populous municipality in Honduras and the metropolitan area of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela form the largest and most populous city in the country, even so, the Central District is not the largest municipality in Honduras when in terms of administrative surface it is spoken (territory). Although it is the largest municipality in Francisco Morazán, it is only the 14th largest in Honduras, with 13 largest municipalities in terms of administrative area but not population. The two largest municipalities in Honduras are Puerto Lempira and Catacamas in the departments of Gracias a Dios and Olancho, respectively. Atlantis. La Ceiba is the largest city in Atlántida and the third largest city in Honduras, in terms of population and urban area, but the Municipality of La Ceiba is only the second largest municipality in Atlántida, with the Municipality of Tela being the largest of said department, although less populated, for which the city of Tela is not considered the largest city in Atlántida.

In addition to the cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, the Central District also has 41 villages and 293 hamlets, these are small towns in the rural areas of the municipality whose populations vary from a few dozen in the smallest hamlets to a few thousand, in the most populated villages. For administrative purposes, the municipal law allows assigning auxiliary mayors and/or boards of trustees to act as local representatives.

Central and departmental government

Central offices of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the Public Ministry (MP), located in Residencial Lomas del Guijarro.

The United States Embassy on La Paz Avenue in the San Carlos Colony.

The Central District is the political and administrative center of Honduras. It is the headquarters of the three branches of the national government and its dependencies, including most of the public agencies and state companies. The capital is the headquarters of all the diplomatic missions that maintain a presence in Honduras, with the exception of the Philippines, whose consulate in the country is located in San Pedro Sula. There are currently 23 embassies and 16 consulates in Tegucigalpa, representing all the Central American countries, most of the South American countries, 14 European countries including Russia, three Caribbean countries, two Asian countries, Canada, the United States, Mexico and South Africa.

The official residence and office of the Executive, the Presidential House, is located on Juan Pablo II Boulevard in the Los Profesionales neighborhood, the National Congress is located in the Historic Center of Tegucigalpa on Bolívar Street in the La Merced neighborhood and the Supreme Court of Justice is located in the Government Civic Center located next to the road distributor of Bulevar Fuerzas Armadas and Bulevar Kuwait, south of Mall Las Cascadas Shopping Center. The capital is also the headquarters of the National Police, the Armed Forces and most of the country's financial institutions, both public and private.

The Central District is also the seat of government of the department of Francisco Morazán headed by the departmental political governor. The governor is appointed by the president of the republic and in turn the latter is the representative of the national executive at the departmental level. Historically, the departmental political governor has had a less visible role in the country's political and administrative framework at the departmental and municipal levels to the extent that its incumbents have declared that the governor needs more evident autonomy and authority, as is the case in other countries such as Mexico. and the United States. The current political governor is Rigoberto Herrera of the National Party during the 2010-2014 period and earns a monthly base salary of 35,000 lempiras (US$1,725).

At the national level, the department of Francisco Morazán is represented by 23 of the 128 deputies that make up the National Congress. Likewise, the Central District, like the rest of the municipalities, is a member of the Association of Municipalities of Honduras (AMHON), which observes municipal interests within the civil and political framework of the country and acts as a link at the national level.

Local government

Local government takes shape within a system where the powers of the executive and the legislature are representative (elected by popular vote) and shared (mayor and aldermen), governed by the Law of Municipalities that entered into force on the 1st January 1991. The Municipal Mayor's Office of the Central District (AMDC) is the governmental authority of the city and municipality whose seat of government is located in the Historic Center of Tegucigalpa in front of the Central Park. As established by the Municipalities Law, the AMDC is structured in a Municipal Corporation, which is the deliberative body of the municipality, elected by the people and the highest authority within the municipal term.

The Municipal Corporation is made up of a mayor who acts as chief executive, general administrator and legal representative of the municipality and a vice mayor who assumes the position of mayor when required and supervises the functions within the AMDC as directed by the mayor. The mayor and vice mayor earn a monthly base salary of L.61,000 (US$3,000) and L.55,000 (US$2,700), respectively.

The Municipal Corporation is also made up of ten aldermen who constitute the legislative and deliberative power within the municipality and together with the mayor execute their obligations delegated by the Law of Municipalities, including the administration of the municipality, its budgetary norms and the legislation of laws and ordinances at the municipal level. Councilors earn a monthly base salary of L.55,000 (US$2,700).

A general manager, appointed by the mayor, acts as chief audit officer in charge of managing, collecting, and distributing funds for the municipal commune. A municipal clerk, also appointed by the mayor, acts as legal clerk in charge of the official record of all legal proceedings. The Municipal Corporation also has a Municipal Development Council which acts as an advisory office in all the focus areas of the city, such as social development, security, public services, etc.

The Government Civic Centre, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Current Administration

The current mayor of the Central District is Jorge Aldana who belongs to the Libertad y Refoundación (Libre) Party, after winning the 2021 election. Aldana is the ninth person elected to serve as Mayor of the Central District since the elections The local governments were reestablished in 1986. Before 1986, the local government of the Central District, known as the Metropolitan Council, was appointed by the President of the Republic. This is the tenth election since then.

Of the ten current regidores, six are men and four are women. Five belong to the Libertad y Refoundación Party while another four belong to the National Party (PNH) and one belongs to the Christian Democratic Party (DC).

Both the mayor and the aldermen are elected to four-year terms by the voters of the Central District. The dismissal of the mayor or any councilor for any reason is reserved to the Ministry of the Interior and Population (formerly the Ministry of the Interior and Justice).

Mayor of Tegucigalpa

• Annex:Tegucigalpa mayors

The mayor of Tegucigalpa is the journalist Jorge Aldana, he was elected to administer the government of the capital in the period 2022-2026 (current).

Municipal Corporation 2022-2026

The present administration is made up as follows:

Municipal Corporation 2014-2018

The previous administration was made up as follows:

Budget

The mayor's budget for 2016 is 4,200 million lempiras. The GDP per capita is one hundred and fifty thousand Lempiras.

Law and Order

The Honduran National Police, through the National Preventive Police, is the uniformed authority in charge of preserving public order and complying with the law. The National Police maintains its headquarters in the Central District in Colonia Casamata. Metropolitan Headquarters No. 1 is the designation for the municipality's police department. It has seven police districts within the metropolitan area.

For 2011, the Secretary of Security designated two thousand 162 million Lempiras (US$ 114 million dollars) to public security and criminal investigation in the Central District.

As established by the Police and Social Coexistence Law, municipalities can finance their own municipal police forces and the Central District currently operates a Municipal Police made up of approximately 160 officers, some of them assigned to the tourist areas of the city. There is also the Traffic Police, a dependency of the National Police, in charge of observing compliance with the laws of the public highway. The Municipal Department of Justice, through the Municipal Police Court, processes local infractions.

The Honduran Public Ministry, with headquarters in the Central District and jurisdiction at the national level through its regional prosecutors, is in charge of investigating crimes and exercising public criminal action on behalf of Honduran society. The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, also with the same domicile, exercises the legal representation of the State in defense of its interests.

Architecture

The church of Santa Maria de los Dolores is one of the oldest Catholic temples in the city, built between 1732 and 1815 during the colonial era of New Spain.

Source of colonial style and staircase towards the historic district of La Leone.

16th and 19th centuries

The historic center of Tegucigalpa preserves some interesting exponents of colonial architecture from the New Spain era dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of the most important religious buildings are:

• Church of San Francisco (Tegucigalpa) erected in the centuryXVI.
• The Cathedral of San Miguel is located in the city centre.
• The Convent of San Francisco (now the Military Museum of Honduras).
• The Shrine of the virgin of Suyapa in the Basilica of Suyapa on the outskirts, eastward.
• Plaza e Iglesia de Los Dolores, Barrio Abajo in Tegucigalpa.
• Casa de Francisco Morazán

20th century

Windows in the Basilica of Suyapa an example of century architectureXX. in the city

Among some buildings from the beginning of the XX century, the following stand out:

• Medina Planas Building.
• Former presidential palace.
• Telecommunications Palace.
• Museum for National Identity.
• National Post
• Parque la Leone
• Source and staircase to the La leona neighborhood.
• Manuel Bonilla National Theatre.
• Legislative Palace of the National Congress.
• Escuela de bellas Artes de Honduras.
• Central Bank of Honduras.
• The Bancatlán Room.
• Museum of Republican History Villa Roy.
• Municipal Palace
• Estadio Nacional Tiburcio Carias Andino

Culture

The Cultural Center of Spain in Tegucigalpa, the centre for artists and creators in visual arts and cinema.

Juan Ramón Molina National Library, national library of the country.

Tegucigalpa is characterized by its varied and interesting cultural character. The city has a great cultural value that has been attracting many people in recent decades, it is characterized by its beautiful colonial and modern style at the same time, which makes it a very special place.

Files and Libraries

Tegucigalpa has some libraries, present in only some areas of the capital, leaving most of the capital and school areas without access to public libraries. Several "book fairs" have also been held in Tegucigalpa. The city has a network of libraries and public archives, including:

• National Archive of Honduras, national archive of the country
• Juan Ramón Molina National Library, National Library
• Reina Sofia Library, specialized in art and art history
• Roberto Ramírez Library, specialized in banking and other economic-financial arguments

The Juan Ramón Molina National Library is a public utility institution and contains more than forty thousand volumes. The library is dependent on the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports. It is located in the old house where General Francisco Morazán was born. The Reina Sofía Library offers a collection and newspaper library of more than 4,000 artistic books.

In addition to the libraries already mentioned, the Library of the National Autonomous University of Honduras is also located in the city to support the development of research, teaching and study, providing access to the necessary information resources, own from the university or outside of it.

Fairs

The city celebrates several fairs such as the Tegucigalpa Anniversary Fair on September 29. This festivity aims to get the best out of the capital's residents and it is a time of year that is always very satisfying to meet. Other fairs are also held such as AGAFAM (Francisco Morazán Farmers and Farmers Association Fair), the Horse Fair and the Entrepreneur Fair.

Museums

National Art Gallery, one of the main art museums in the city

The city has several museums with different themes, most of them located in the historic center, including:

• Chiminike, Children's Museum
• Centro Cultural de España in Tegucigalpa, center for artists and creators in visual arts and cinema
• San Francisco Square, Military Museum
• National Art Gallery
• Honduras Air Museum, Air Museum and History of Aviation in Honduras
• Museum of Republican History Villa Roy, history museum of the republican era
• Museum of Honduran Man, Museum of Honduran Culture and Identity
• Museum for National Identity (MIN)
• Rigoberto Borjas Numismatic Museum
• Telecommunications Museum
• Pinacoteca Arturo H. Medrano

The Museum for National Identity (MIN) is one of the most visited museums in Tegucigalpa and is considered one of the best museums in Central America. The museum is dedicated to conservation, research, communication, and exhibition for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment of the material and immaterial evidence of the inhabitants who have inhabited Honduras. One of its most popular exhibits is the Copán Virtual room, a virtual version of the main city of the Mayans in Honduras.

The Museum of the Honduran Man, together with the Reina Sofía Library, offers the visiting public three rooms for pictorial exhibitions by Honduran brush artists. In addition, the Miguel Ángel Gómez Restoration Workshop works, where more than 400 works have been recovered, religious heritage. The museum is housed in the historic 19th century lowercase Casa Ramón Rosa, the former seat of the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras.

Theatre, dance and music

The Manuel Bonilla National Theatre is the main theater of the city and the country.

The Manuel Bonilla National Theater is one of the most prestigious institutions in the city. Inaugurated in 1905, its rooms are dedicated to top-level musical and theatrical events. The theater has hosted more than 10,000 musical, theatrical, and opera performances, with performances throughout the day and night. In addition, other special events are held throughout the year. The theater encourages the organization and promotion of different high-quality stage shows (theater, dance and music), both nationally and internationally.

Other theaters and artistic spaces for dance and music stand out:

• Renaissance Theatre.
• National Dance School "Mercedes Agurcia Membreño" (MAM).
• Free Dance School.
• National School of Music.
• Paraninfo of the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Sports

Tegucigalpa has many sports centers in each neighborhood, neighborhood or center, as well as many stadiums and sports complexes.

Football

Tegucigalpa National Stadium

Tegucigalpa is home to the two largest clubs in the Honduran National Soccer League: Club Deportivo Olimpia, and Club Deportivo Motagua. Both teams have been Central American champions and between them they have more than 40 league titles. CD Olimpia is the most popular and the one with the most league championships, closely followed by its archrival Motagua.

The city has a training complex for youth teams called Proyecto GOAL that was financed by FIFA and built on the grounds of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH).^{[citation required]}

Equipment	Sport	League	Foundation
Olympia	Football	National League of Honduras	1912
Motagua	Football	National League of Honduras	1928
Gymnastics	Football	League of Ascenso de Honduras	1949
UPNFM	Football	National League of Honduras	2010

Lempira Reina Ball Park

The Lempira Reina Ball Park is a stadium for baseball games, located in front of the José de la Paz Herrera Uclés Stadium. It is the second most important stadium for baseball in Honduras after the Chochi Sosa Stadium located in the facilities of the Olympic Village of Tegucigalpa created in 1951.

Tegucigalpa Olympic Village

The largest recreational and sports center in Tegucigalpa is the Olympic Village. It is free to enter, it has an Olympic stadium, a baseball park, swimming pools, several gyms, basketball courts, tennis courts, ample car parks and green areas for relaxation. It can be easily accessed by the city ring road.

Education

Campus of the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Universities

Health

Some of the most important private hospitals in the city are:

Public category:

• Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS)
• Hospital School
• Hospital San Felipe
• Hospital del Tórax

Transportation

Terrestrial

Central America Avenue in a day of Vehicle Congestion.

The fastest way to get from one point to another in the city is through the "Quinto Centenario" ring road. This ring covers the eastern side of the city of Tegucigalpa and is also connected to the national highway, where there are national branches to the north of the country (towards San Pedro Sula), to the south (towards Nicaragua) and other exits to towns. close. Tegucigalpa is connected to the rest of the country and abroad by various paved highways. The main one goes to the north of the country, another to the south, connecting with the Inter-American Highway, and a third to the east.

The city had the Metrobús Tegucigalpa public transport project under construction, which began in 2010 and inaugurated a stage on January 24, 2014. The work was halted and was never fully inaugurated.

Aerial

Aircraft at Toncontinent International Airport

Tegucigalpa's main airport is Toncontín International Airport, located in the south of the city. This airport is considered one of the most dangerous in the world due to the proximity of a mountain range and a relatively short runway; for several years there have been attempts to replace it with the Palmerola airport, in Comayagua, where an air base currently operates. the United States.

Toncontín has been significantly improved through works carried out by the Tegucigalpa Airport Corporation and Interairports, a private company contracted by the government to manage the country's four international airports. Previously, Toncontín only had a runway 1,863 meters long. In 2009 it was extended with 300 meters, of which 150 meters of useful runway, 60 meters of runway safety strip, and 90 meters of level safety area at the end of the runway. The altitude of the runway is 1033 m s. no. m..

Toncontín also has migration, customs, meteorology and air traffic control services. It is served by international airlines such as American Airlines, Avianca, Continental Airlines, Copa Airlines, DELTA and several local airlines, which connect it with the rest of the country, El Salvador and the United States.

Notorious Citizens

• Rafael Leonardo Callejas, former President of the Republic of Honduras
• Tiburcio Carías Andino, Honduran dictator of the twentieth century, Cariato
• Salvador Moncada, a scientist nominated for the Nobel Prize, husband of Princess Esmeralda of Belgium
• Augusto Monterroso, canonica figure of the Latin American Boom
• Francisco Morazán, paladin of the Central American union and homonym of the capital department
• Marco Aurelio Soto, former President of the Republic of Honduras, appointed Tegucigalpa national capital
• Rafael Heliodoro Valle, historian and national intellectual

Overview of Tegucigalpa

Panoramic North Tegucigalpa.

Twinned cities

They have 15 sisterly capitals with:

They have 5 sister cities with: